Businesses using corporate venues to hold meetings could boost transparency among customers by broadcasting such events on the internet.

Councillor Rory Palmer, deputy mayor of Leicester, told thisisleicestershire.co.uk that one of the reasons Leicester City Council has broadcast its meetings online since 2008 is because it helps make present the local authority to the public as “open and transparent”.

He admitted that more needs to be done to promote online viewing – an average of 20 people per video watch live streams while archived footage has been seen more than 4,600 times – in a bid to get the best value for money.

“Live audience figures do vary from meeting to meeting and we would expect this, but all of the archived meetings have been viewed which shows people may want to view a particular discussion at a time that suits them,” remarked Cllr Palmer.

An increasing number of local authorities are doing the same thing, so that anybody interested in a meeting does not need to physically attend at an exact time or at a specific location. Councillors and other official attendees are still there in person.

According to thisisplymouth.co.uk, Plymouth City Council is one of the latest to switch to this system. The live online broadcast of the full council was the first of its kind for the organisation and has been archived so anyone can access it.